Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Alter Bridge, Shinedown and The Raven Age at Nottingham's Motionpoint Arena

Shinedown
Shinedown with Alter Bridge's Walk The Sky tour, Nottingham UK
With the original lineup for Alter Bridge's Walk The Sky tour of the UK and Europe being Alter Bridge, Shinedown, and Sevendust, this was not going to be a tour that I would miss; three bands that can easily headline their own tours in the USA, all on the same bill! Sadly, Sevendust had to cancel their participation - drummer Morgan Rose having been taken ill. (Good news is that he is recovering.)

The Raven Age, Nottingham



The Raven Age, British melodic metalcore with a smidgeon of Iron Maiden-esqe vocals stepped in to open the show and it was wonderful to see an opening act given the benefit of lights appropriate for the arena setting. That doesn't always happen.

Shinedown
Fan's light show for Shinedown: Nottingham, UK
Shinedown put on a huge show: animated, interactive, emotional, exciting and full of bounce. Attention, Attention! Shinedown are in town! Playing all the rabble-rousers including Monsters, Get Up, and Cut The Cord, they also included their memorable cover of Lynard Skynard's Simple Man. The crowd let Brent Smith and co know that they could have gone on all evening. Shinedown definitely have enough of a UK following these days to have earned their own headline tour one of these days; playing to a capacity crowd in Motionpoint Arena just took them one huge step closer.

The were so very cool. I enjoy Shinedown more and more every time I see them. Even Brent's monologues make me smile these days.

Alter Bridge
Alter Bridge, Walk The Sky tour, Nottingham, UK
But then... Alter Bridge. Their latest album, Walk The Sky, was released just a few weeks ago on October 18th. I have been lucky enough to see and photograph them several times previously in the USA - in festival environments in Chicago and Houston - but never before in a major indoor venue with the incredible light show that was part of Saturday night's experience in Nottingham, UK. The whole show was a stunning experience; being way up in the gods with a view over the crowd to the band, it was Alter Bridge's haunting and inspirational rock through visual fireworks that only added to a very, very memorable evening.

Alter Bridge
Alter Bridge, Nottingham UK, 2019
The Alter Bridge setlist was seventeen songs long and included Burn It Down with Mark Tremonti taking the vocal lead as a twist... but Myles Kennedy's range is always stunning, clear and haunting. You can't fault Alter Bridge; vocals, Tremonti and Kennedy's guitars always different yet complementing each other; Brian Marshall's deep-diving bass, and all underpinned by "Flip" Philips' drums... what a show. What a show!!!

And they gave us Blackbird. Yes, they did. I love that song and it has such a very, very special place in so many people's hearts. Thank you for that.

The Walk The Sky tour continues: tonight in Birmingham, UK, then Friday night at Motorpoint Area in Cardiff, Wales and Saturday at the O2 Arena in London. One of those tours where you wish you could go to each and every venue and experience it all, over and over again.

Alter Bridge
Alter Bridge, Walk The Sky tour, Nottingham UK
(I was at the show for the music - not as a photographer this time. All photos are taken from the crowd on a Xiaomi Mi 8 phone: they work on a small screen, but don't think of trying to zoom in. How I wish I had been able to cover these performances with proper cameras and the type of access that Marillion allows me... I never, ever take that type of access for granted.)

More photos here:
- Alter Bridge, Nottingham, 2019
- Shinedown, Nottingham, 2019

See also:
- Photos from other Alter Bridge shows
- Myles Kennedy, Year of the Tiger

Alter Bridge
Alter Bridge, Nottingham Motionpoint Arena, 2019

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

It's (the Cromer Pier) Christmas (Show)!!!!!!

Cromer Pier Christmas Show 2019
Cromer Pier Christmas Show 2019
Christmas is in full swing at the end of Cromer Pier - the extra-special, family-fun, super-entertaining, dancing-singing-magical Christmas Show! Starting with Santa and taking a journey through places as diverse as the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia (Laurel and Hardy) and south-east London (Only Fools and Horses), with dance styles from classical ballet to tap and a heck of a lot of acrobatic high kicks and jumps, and card tricks and illusion and fun and a whole load of laughter, the show is a magical machine that transports you, for a couple of hours, out of the mundane day-to-day world into a special place that exists only at the end of the pier, in Cromer's Pavilion theatre.

Cromer Pier Christmas Show 2019
Cromer Pier Christmas Show 2019
Saturday night, and the 500-seater theatre was full: second show of the day for the talented crew. Compere and local funny man Olly Day knows this venue well - back for the eleventh time! The Modern Magician  Mark James returns too and has some great tricks up his sleeve (or in his pocket, or even inside an egg, which he then makes into an omlette): vocalists Harvey James and Fiona Jessica Wilson (who also plays a mean electric cello - beautiful sound); young dancers from Cromer's Marlene's School of Dancing, and the wonderful Cromer Pier Show dancers who make the stage feel as big as a ballroom. Light and sound are just perfect for the venue and the whole show flows through rapid scenery and costume changes from beginning to end.

Cromer Pier Christmas Show 2019
Harvey James and Fiona Jessica Wilson, Cromer Pier Christmas Show

Cromer Pier Christmas Show 2019
Mark James, Cromer Pier Christmas Show 2019
The Twelve Days of Christmas are novel... and hilarious!

Cromer Pier Christmas Show 2019
Cromer Pier Christmas Show Dancers
I love the ballet; I want to photograph more ballet. Pretty please.

Cromer Pier Christmas Show 2019
Mark James and Olly Day, Cromer Pier Christmas Show 2019
The Cromer Pier Christmas Show is pure entertainment - you won't find anything like it at the end of a pier anywhere else in the world. Grab the opportunity and a ticket for the family: the show runs until the end of December, and you can book tickets here or at the box office on the pier.


More photos from this year's Christmas Show here!
And photos from earlier Cromer Pier Shows are here, too.

Cromer Pier Christmas Show 2019
Cromer Pier Christmas Show 2019